Speed vest for cyclists shows how fast they’re going

Most drivers are probably acutely aware of the frustrations of driving behind a cyclist. A cyclist could be pedaling away like crazy, but compared to a driver of a car who just needs to put the pedal to the metal and achieve speeds of 40-50mph, naturally the driver of the car will feel that the cyclist is extremely slow.

This is a frustration that avid cyclist Mykle Hansen has dealt with countless times, and sick of cars honking and giving him grief, he decided to do something about it in the form of a vest, which not only increases his night time visibility, but also displays his speed on the back of his vest in 7” tall numbers.

It looks like a simple setup, requiring an off-the-shelf speedometer, which feeds data to an Arduino that is hidden away in the vest. The Arduino then lights up the electroluminescent wires sewn into the vest (as pictured above). If you’re an avid cyclist and this sounds like a great idea, head on down to Mykle Hansen’s page for the instructions.